Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Disney Cruise: Part 3

We had a few days at sea before we got to our first port of call, which was ideal for us. It gave us time to explore the ship and figure out where things were located, as well as unwind after our "holy moly, we have a lot to do" pre-trip push that we experienced.

Our view during an at-sea day

Considering the ship is amazingly huge, we had no difficulty keeping ourselves occupied while at sea. That said, we also found plenty of time to simply relax and take in the joy of doing nothing. I think that is one of the true beauties of being on a 7-day cruise - there's no rush to have every day jammed with activities from the minute your feet hit the floor each morning.

How did we fill our days? Mostly, we swam and enjoyed the water slides, but we also played miniature golf, took in some live shows (Disney shows and an illusionist who was AMAZING), watched movies (both indoors and outdoors), played the Mid-ship Detective Agency game, read books, went to a variety of ship-sponsored activities (including a paper airplane folding event, kids-only baking/science classes, a galley tour, and a mixology class... the last two were without the kids, who were in the Kids' Club doing their own thing), and we lazily watched the ocean roll by.

Our mixology class was organized for our cruise's Facebook group, which meant it was a private class instead of the public mixology classes that were also available. It was really neat to be able to spend in-person time with the people we got to know a bit online. Our class was taught by Katy the bartender, who quickly became a favorite person on the ship. She was personable and made great drinks... what could be better? We learned how to make 5 different drinks... from shaken cocktails to layered shots. YUM!

Katy the bartender

Learning how to make the shaken cocktail: a Captain's MaiTai

Pourin' the rum! (You've GOTTA have RUM in the Caribbean!)

Shake it up baby, now! Shake it up, baby!

Eric layering his shot

We knew the ship had a miniature golf course prior to leaving home, so the kids were amped up to play as soon as they got the chance. I'm pretty sure we picked the windiest opportunity to grab our clubs and give the course a go. Annika and I were frequently blinded by our wildly thrashing hair ... and Eric and I were about strangled by our key lanyards on more than one occasion. All that aside, we had a lot of fun on what is probably the silliest put-putt course we've been to.

Conor getting his game started

Windy putt-putt

Windblown golfers

Nothing like golfing in a wind tunnel

Whirly hair

Eric lining up to take his last shot of the golf game

The paper airplane event we went to was on a day that proved to be questionable in terms of the weather. We kept sailing through downpours of rain ... the kind of rain that bounces back up at you! So, we opted for more of an indoor day, which included going to bar (yes, we took our kids to a bar.. insert gasps and shocked sounds here) to fold airplanes. The bar was really neat and had a motorcycle complete with sidecar that our kids quickly decided was the coolest thing ever. What cracked up Eric and me was another little kid who started proclaiming, "They forgot to take the gas out! It turns on!" when he touched some button or lever on the motorcycle and a recorded revving sound played.

Annika and Conor on a grand ride

Vrooom!

During one of our walks around the ship (Conor and I snuck out one morning so Annika and Eric could get a little more shut eye), we walked the entire perimeter of the ship. Along the way, we almost got run over by a few hard-core joggers, "played" shuffleboard, and stopped for a little nosh to fill our bellies.

Conor on our morning jaunt

It's tricky when the shuffleboard equipment is twice as tall as you are

Conor getting the hang of shuffleboard (using Conor rules, naturally)

Must ... refuel ... after ... walk ... and .. shuffleboard

Before we left for the trip, I read that a "must do" thing was get up in time to watch the sun rise. So, that I did. Again, I snuck my camera and Conor (our little early riser) out of the cabin so Annika could get some extra sleep (by this time, she was fighting off a nasty cold). On the open ocean, it is really tricky to know which way was East. Fortunately, we crossed paths with another person with a camera and we followed him. After I

Rising sun

Good morning!

Hello, beautiful sunshine

Soon after rising, the sun hid behind a cloud layer

Almost immediately after we watched the sun rise, the skies opened up and dumped
an insane amount of rain on us. Good thing we're from Seattle and wet weather doesn't scare us off.
I protected the camera and Conor ... he, in turn, protected his cup of hot cocoa